1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fabrication of electrical devices, and more particularly to a system for the assembly of wire harnesses.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of electrical circuit fabrication, it has been the general practice to employ wire assembly apparatus to assist an assembler in arranging a plurality of electrical wires and cables in a predetermined pattern so that the assembler may form a harness having a plurality of conductors that may be used as a unit. U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,025 shows a prior art electrical harness assembling apparatus. This apparatus includes a wiring board having a plurality of terminators, such as harness connectors, mounted thereon at locations where wires are to begin and end. The assembler will hand-feed individual wires one at a time between appropriate terminators and through wire guide units mounted in an array on the wiring board. Wiring information is provided to the assembler in the form of instructions displayed on a printed computer run-out or a CRT. Some errors in placing the wires on the apparatus are automatically detected and the assembler informed via multi-colored, light emitting diodes (LED). Although such devices have served the purpose, they have not proved entirely satisfactory under all conditions of service for the reason that many wiring errors go undetected until after the harness is formed and removed from the wiring board. Additionally, locating the proper wiring configuration and the location of wire connections on the board takes considerable operator time and is prone to operator translation errors of the wiring information. These problems result in unnecessarily low production. Still further, prior art systems require that the assemblers have significant knowledge of the system and the type of harness being assembled. As such, the training time for the average assembler may be significant. Therefore, those concerned with the development of electrical harness assembly equipment have long recognized the need for improvements in the system that will increase production, reduce assembler training time and reduce the causes of errors in manual harness assembly. The present invention fulfills this need.